Genetic variation of the spiny spider crab Maja brachydactyla in the northeastern Atlantic

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 362:211-223 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07433 Genetic variation of the spiny spider crab Maja brachydactyla in the northeastern Atlantic Graciela Sotelo1,*, Paloma Morán1, Luis Fernández2, David Posada1 1Departamento de Bioquímica, Genética e Inmunología, Facultad de Biología, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, Universidad de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain 2Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Campus A Zapateira, Universidad de A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain *Email: gsotelo@uvigo.es ABSTRACT: The spiny spider crab Maja brachydactyla is a decapod crustacean that inhabits the northeastern Atlantic, from the British Isles to Senegal, and is the target of intense fishing activity. In the absence of previous genetic studies, we describe the genetic variability and structure of this species along Atlantic European coasts, paying special attention to the northwestern Iberian Peninsula (Galicia), where this species may be overexploited. Analysis of 2 mitochondrial fragments and 9 microsatellites indicates that these populations maintain appreciable levels of genetic diversity, most of which are found within localities. This scenario could be explained by quite large effective population sizes and noticeable levels of gene flow. M. brachydactyla in the northeastern Atlantic do not show any signs of a genetic bottleneck, and effectively conform to a diverse metapopulation with limited structure. KEY WORDS: Genetic diversity · Gene flow · Effective population size · MtDNA · Microsatellites · Crab population genetics · Phylogeography Full text in pdf format Supplementary appendix PreviousNextCite this article as: Sotelo G, Morán P, Fernández L, Posada D (2008) Genetic variation of the spiny spider crab Maja brachydactyla in the northeastern Atlantic. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 362:211-223. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps07433Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 362. Online publication date: June 30, 2008 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.